Despite the lockdown and closure of rail services for months due to the pandemic, the railway police have been on their heels rescuing many from trafficking rackets and kidnapping incidents.
The numbers provided by Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) for the current year till the month of November almost equals last year’s. This is alarmingly high given that the railway has remained non-functional for five to six months for the common public.
Surprisingly, almost all victims of such trafficking and kidnapping rackets are children below 18 years. A total of 21 children have been rescued by alert Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel this year. Of them, 14 are males and the rest 7 are females.
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16 child traffickers have been arrested so far.
In 2019, 22 people were saved from abduction; 19 of them were females. 14 miscreants were arrested in 10 cases.
Abu Sufian, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Government Railway Police (GRP), speaking to G Plus said, “Train services have been significantly low this year. Yet GRP and RPF have been conducting extensive raids to put a check on untoward activities.”
“It is usually seen that majority of the victims are below 18 years old and are usually taken outside the state to work as labourers or household helps. So the rate of the abduction of male children is high. The demand for construction labours is always high and these small boys are easy to be forced into work and their pay is very less. We keep a strict eye on people below 18 years travelling by train,” he added.
Sufian also pointed out that women above 18 years are trafficked for prostitution. Sources have pointed out that there is a high demand of women from the region for prostitution. And the people from the economically backward sections of society can be easily convinced to earn some extra amount.
“With the bait of easy life and good earnings adult females are taken to most north Indian states, where they are often sold to prostitution rackets. The victims, both male and female, usually belong to the tribal communities, the tea gardens and other minority areas,” the DIG added.
Most often the miscreants or the kidnappers are locals of the areas from where the victims are picked up. The railway police have warned people of professional kidnapping rackets functioning in the villages and the involvement of villagers either as informers or as agents who do the work for minimal amounts. Allegedly, many NGOs are also found to have involvement in such cases.
The loss of job of many due to the lockdown, mostly of the backward sections of society, have added to the worries, and many youths are thought to have joined forces with criminals for easy survival, said a railway police personnel.
“As the trains are going to increase gradually we have also prepared forces to prevent such activities. We have allocated personnel for round the clock surveillance. We have appointed joint checking teams in every railway platform. Many NGOs and other organisations are also working with us and helping us with information,” said Abu Sufian.
The railway police have also successfully rescued 195 more people in various other incidents apart from the traffickers’ rackets. In 137 such cases, 111 persons below 18 years of age and 84 adults were saved. While 68 of them have been handed over to their families and guardians, the rest are safely lodged with various NGOs and the railway police, awaiting return to their families.